


Minisode: From Nothing

by The_Raconteur_24601



Series: Prompts and Shorts [3]
Category: Doctor Who, The Borrowers - All Media Types
Genre: G/T, TINY - Freeform, borrower companion, giant, giant tiny - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-09-06 22:48:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16841992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Raconteur_24601/pseuds/The_Raconteur_24601
Summary: BTaS Canon: YesTimeline: Within the first two weeks of Zepheera’s acceptance aboard the TARDIS





	Minisode: From Nothing

Every person in the universe, once in a while, has a sleepless night when every nook and cranny of their mind is haunted by a single thought. An inexplicable philosophy conjured up from nothing, a question ceaselessly asked. For them, this thought fills their senses and thwarts any attempt at sleep. Tonight was one of those nights for Zepheera.

She didn’t know what had woken her, but once she found herself awake she was restless. She tossed and turned, and the _thought_ refused to quiet down. It was a question that she’d never given much consideration, but was difficult to ignore now that she was with the Doctor.

Finally, she could take it no longer.

Shivering slightly, Zepheera padded her way down the long corridors of the TARDIS. She hadn’t bothered to change out of her pajamas, a thin, dark robe over a long-sleeved lavender shirt and baggy red plaid trousers. Something was on her mind and she was sure she’d never sleep until her thought was appeased.

She stuck by the walls by force of habit—it was an easy way for her and the Doctor to navigate the halls separately without worrying about…unpleasantness. Even so, she was confident the Doctor always watched where he stepped when she wasn’t with him. She flinched slightly when she was close enough to the wall. A strange feeling overcame her and a chilling mechanical groan echoed through the colossal halls. It was as if the TARDIS itself was anxious. Perhaps this feeling had stolen the borrower’s sleep.

By and by, she rounded the corner to the darkened console room where she found the Doctor standing in front of the screen. It was hidden by the console from where Zepheera stood, and she could plainly see the Doctor illuminated by it. He might have angled himself this way so he’d be able to see if Zepheera came in, she supposed. But whatever was on that screen had his attention in thrall; she’d never seen his eyes so… _mournful,_ and with such longing.

After a short moment of watching him curiously, Zepheera caught his attention by clearing her throat. He blinked, reality hitting him hard, and immediately found his tiny companion in the entrance. He frowned in concern.

“Zepheera,” said the Doctor gently, flipping the screen off and stepping away from the console. Pocketing his hands, he took a few shuffling steps toward her and dropped to his knees. “I thought you were asleep. Something wrong?“

Zepheera awkwardly shifted her feet. "Oh, no, nothing like that, I was just—I couldn’t sleep and I was thinking…This is probably gonna sound stupid…” She trailed off, lowering her gaze to her hands as she intertwined her fingers.

By then, the Doctor was lying flat on the floor, head and shoulders propped up slightly by his elbows. He hated looming over her. It made him feel ridiculously intimidating, and it wasn’t very conducive for conversation either. “What is it?”

She took a steadying breath. “I was wondering…just how big the universe is.”

It was a simple question, but it felt silly to ask. She felt like a human child asking their parent if there was indeed such a thing as Father Christmas.

“Oh…bigger than you can imagine,“ he answered with a kind grin.

A relieved smile parted her features. She should have known the Doctor wouldn’t judge her, especially since the average borrower’s world was much smaller than Zepheera’s had been even _before_ she met the Time Lord.

"Can you show me?” She met his eyes once again as she asked, her own brimming with curiosity.

The Doctor considered this, biting the corner of his lip as he thought. Suddenly his eyes lit up and refocused on her.

“C'mere,“ he said, reaching a hand towards her.

Zepheera eagerly hurried onto his hand and climbed up his arm to his shoulder, holding on to the collar of his button-up as he carefully stood. He returned to the screen, clicking it on. A brief flash of what he had been looking at earlier appeared before he switched away from it. It lasted less than a second and looked a lot like a woman with fiery red hair. Zepheera knew better than to pry, and focused her attention on what the Doctor was doing and saying.

”Have you heard of the Hubble Space Telescope?“ he asked, pulling up an image of the machine.

Zepheera sat down a little ways away from the Doctor’s neck so he could see her more easily if he wanted to, tilting her head slightly at the picture. "A little,” she replied.

“Well, put simply, it does exactly what the title says: orbits the Earth, capturing light from across the universe. Launched in nineteen-ninety, ten years ago for you, and in two thousand three, it’ll point itself someplace a bit peculiar.”

With the push of a button, the screen changed to an image of the night sky, big old full moon and all. “Right about…" the Doctor muttered, working the controls until a minuscule square appeared to the left of the moon. “Ah, there we are. That tiny area in the sky. What do you see?“

Zepheera squinted. The square was probably the size of her hand, give or take, but from this distance it seemed even smaller. "Nothing,” she answered as soon as she was sure.

“Nothing. Totally blank to the naked eye. Not even a star. And yet, Hubble kept on looking. Looking and looking for four months, seeing all it could see until…“

Click.

Zepheera’s vision filled with a gorgeous assortment of colorful dots, all different sizes and colors and shapes. Her breath caught and her eyes widened. The Doctor paused to let the image sink in before he continued emphatically.

"Each and every one of these dots is a _galaxy_.” He gesticulated widely at the screen. “Each galaxy can potentially hold up to a _trillion_ stars. And each star could potentially have its own system of planets, any of which could potentially hold life.” Another pause for emphasis. “There are over ten thousand galaxies pictured here. And all from what looked like a tiny speck of absolutely nothing to Earth.

"And that, Zepheera,” he said, turning his head to look at her, “is how big the universe is.”

The look on the borrower’s face was nothing short of amazed. Her hand covered her mouth and her eyes shone with tears, which she blinked away when she felt his eyes on her. Such a revelation would have made almost anyone else, borrower or not, feel insignificant and tiny. But in Zepheera, it inspired hope and the confidence that anything and anyone, no matter how small or seemingly unimportant, could hold all the potential in the universe. She felt lighter somehow with this new knowledge.

“Ten thousand, you said?” she finally piped up, wiping a stray tear away with the heel of her hand.

The Doctor smiled warmly at her. “And more.”

She lifted her chin to meet his gaze. “Can we see them?”

Smile widening, he brought a hand up for her to climb on. Once she was settled on his palm, he held her in front of the monitor. “Where would you like to go first?”

Nearly overwhelmed by the choice, Zepheera considered carefully. They all looked so unique and unbelievably intriguing. But she came to a decision, motioning for the Doctor to lift her higher until she could reach the middle of the screen.

“There,” she announced, pressing her finger on one of the closer galaxies, a round bright orange one.

“Brilliant choice,” he agreed, ruffling her short hair with his thumb. She batted the digit away half-heartedly, fatigue seeming to have finally caught up with her. “We’ll go first thing in the morning. You should get some rest.”

Zepheera nodded heavily, and the Doctor began to carry her out of the console room. She insisted that she could make it back to her room on her own, so he stopped a few steps into the corridor and lowered her to the floor

“Good night, Zepheera.”

“Night,” she replied over her shoulder as she started off. “And,” she began, turning around suddenly. The Doctor was about to stand and leave her to it when her voice made him freeze. “Thank you.” She smiled genuinely, albeit sleepily, and the Doctor returned the gesture.

Without another word, the two went their separate ways, both eagerly awaiting the morning.


End file.
